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“I’ve just returned.”
“Ah, good work. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d go so far as to save all of the spirits.”

It was the same space I had been brought to when I died as Toriyama. Here, I met God again. Well, “met again” might not be the right phrase; after all, we’d talked many times before, so it didn’t really feel like a reunion. Even if it had been our first conversation in a while, I didn’t really feel much.

Especially not when he said things like this.

“You sent me there even though you didn’t expect me to save them all?”
“Well, the promise was that saving even one would be enough.”
“That’s true… but I had quite a bit of time at my disposal.”
“And the fact that you did save them all just shows your nature, doesn’t it?”

I couldn’t tell whether that was praise or not. Personally, it didn’t feel like praise, so I decided it wasn’t.

“Uh, never mind. I was able to witness the world’s collapse anyway. How about my wish? What’s the status on that?”
“For now, everyone has made their choices.”
“I see. And how many wishes do I still have left?”

There had been six spirits. I’d spent one wish to deal with the Neutral Team. One for Fumitsuki and Michihisa. One for Zygos, and one for me becoming a god.

“About two, I think.”
“Alright, then I’d like one wish to be the right to disappear at any time without fear, and the other to be eternal slumber.”

If I ever got tired of endless sleep, I wouldn’t just die, I’d vanish entirely. That was my wish. I feel like I have already said something about this before. Anyway, I wanted to hole up somewhere like a shut-in and drift endlessly in a half-sleep. Floating between waking and dreaming forever.

That blissful time—without end.

But apparently, that wish wasn’t going to come true. God’s expression soured.

“That might be difficult.”
“Which part?”
“Both.”
“Is that so…”

So much for my vision of the future, crumbling already. But I wasn’t about to give up over something like this. I would seize my peace, no matter what.

As I clenched my fist with determination, God gave me a strange look.

“What? You’re looking at me like I’m doing something strange.”
“Well, I was wondering what you were suddenly trying to start.”
“… Come to think of it, you can’t read my thoughts anymore, can you?”
“Even for me, reading another god’s mind isn’t simple.”

(I see, I see… Stupid, stupid.)

“Now, with that expression, I can pretty much guess what you’re thinking.”
“Fair enough. Then let’s negotiate. Why won’t you grant my wish?”
“Well, a god of endings who doesn’t work at all? That would get complaints from the other gods.”
“Can’t you just deal with the complaints yourself?”

It shouldn’t have had anything to do with me. It didn’t have anything to do with me.

“I could ignore my equals, sure. But when it’s a higher-ranking god making the requests… that’s harder.”
“What about the contract-god side of things?”
“That’s easy. You barely need to do anything there. Swear by your name, and if a contract is broken, divine punishment will fall; that’s the gist of it. I think you’ve got a feel for it already, don’t you?”

Now that he mentioned it, yeah. If I just let my Mana, no, my Divine Power, spill out, the rest seemed to happen automatically. Something I could do even while half-asleep.

“So the real obstacle is the god of endings side of things. Fine, then let one of my wishes be to quit that.”
“That’d be like carving away part of your very existence. Even for a god, that would hurt like hell. Still want to do it?”
“…I reconsider!”

It was strange for a God to mention the word hurt.

“Then how about this? I’ll work once every hundred years. The rest of the time, I’ll keep on sleeping. How’s that?”
“Once every hundred years, hm… Yeah, fine. As an apology for not granting your wish exactly, I’ll even create a place for you to rest.”

As expected of God, so generous… or maybe not. I somehow had the feeling I’d messed up. Maybe 100 years was nothing in a God’s world. I’d only said it because of that talk with Lullus about the end of an era, but the world’s collapse had become irreversible over a thousand years ago. It had been extended thanks to the presence of the Nigel Kingdom, but God hadn’t seemed the least bit concerned about that.

Meaning…

I had messed up the scale. Thinking that it was pitiful that Vega and Altair met only once a year was coming from a human perspective. When seen from the stars’ point of view, once a year was actually pretty frequent.

“…God, may I ask a question?”
“Of course, but I sure hope that the God of Contracts won’t decide to retract their words again.”
“If a hundred years pass and there’s no work for me, what happens then?”
“In that case, you just rest. You don’t work when there’s nothing to do.”
“…Alright, understood.”

That was a relief. Yeah, I definitely wasn’t going to ask how many worlds were currently on the brink of collapse. Some things are better left unknown.

As I mulled over regrets, God suddenly spoke up, as if remembering something.

“Don’t you want to know what became of the people you saved from this world?”
“No. Even if I did, knowing wouldn’t change anything.”
“Well, if you get curious, she can tell you.”
“… I have no idea what you mean. Anyway, can I make my last wish now?”
“What is it?”

It felt like he just left me with something ominous just now, but I decided to ignore it.

“Let Lullus be the one to wake me up. I don’t want to be woken by some stranger. And, well, even you waking me up feels unpleasant somehow.”
“Pretty bold words. But fine, I’ll allow it. Still, that’s one more troublesome job added to my plate.”
“My condolences.”

I had no idea what part of this added work was for him, but whatever. From here on, I had a hundred years of slumber waiting for me. The first job was already finished.

“Your resting place is ready, Fi. Sleep tight.”
“I will. Good night.”